Madonna has announced the dates for her Confessions tour, which will kick off at the Forum in Los Angeles on May 21. The trek, which will focus on material from last year's Confessions on a Dancefloor LP, will take her through the U.S. and Canada and into Europe and Japan.

The first string of dates are in U.S. arenas from late May to late July, followed by stadium and outdoor festival gigs in Europe though September; the Japanese dates are yet to be announced. Madonna will precede the tour by playing her first-ever festival date at the Coachella Festival in Indio, California, on April 30 (see [article id="1525114"]"Madonna Set To Make Her Festival Debut At Coachella"[/article]).

The disco-themed tour will be directed by longtime collaborator Jamie King with Stuart Price again on board as musical director and costumes designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. Rehearsals for the tour are already under way in Los Angeles, according to a statement from Madonna's label (see [article id="1524743"]"Madonna To Hit Small Venues For 'Intimate' Confessions Tour"[/article]).

To coincide with the launch of the tour, the singer will release a series of special-edition remixes on three 12" vinyl records called Confessions Remixed on May 1, according to her Web site. The remixes are: "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Vocal) with "Hung Up" (SDP Extended Dub); "Sorry" (Man With Guitar Mix) and "Get Together" (Jacques Lu Cont Mix); and "I Love New York" (Thin White Duke Remix) with "Let It Will Be (Paper Faces Mix)." Only 3,000 copies of the remixes will be released, housed in a special black and silver sleeve.

Dates for Madonna's Confessions tour, according to her publicist:

• 5/21 - Inglewood, CA @ The Forum